03-5516. Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Focus Groups

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of intention to request extension of OMB approval.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) extend its approval of a collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of the information collection, which will be conducted through focus groups and surveys over a three-year period, is to help the PBGC assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which it serves its customers and to design actions to address identified problems. This notice informs the public of the PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments should be submitted by May 6, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be mailed to the Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, or delivered to Suite 340 at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas H. Gabriel, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The PBGC intends to request that OMB extend its approval, for a three-year period, of a generic collection of information consisting of customer satisfaction focus groups and surveys (OMB control number 1212-0053; expires 6/30/2003). The information collection will further the goals of Executive Order 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards, which states the Federal Government must seek to provide “the highest quality of service delivered to customers by private organizations providing a comparable or analogous service.”

The PBGC uses customer satisfaction focus groups and surveys to find out about the needs and expectations of its customers and assess how well it is meeting those needs and expectations. By keeping these avenues of communication open, the PBGC can continually improve service to its customers, including plan participants and beneficiaries, plan sponsors and their affiliates, plan administrators, pension practitioners, and others involved in the establishment, operation and termination of plans covered by the PBGC's insurance program. Because the areas of concern to the PBGC and its customers vary and may quickly change, it is important that the PBGC have the ability to evaluate customer concerns quickly by developing new vehicles for gathering information under this generic approval.

Participation in the focus groups and surveys will be voluntary. The PBGC will consult with the Office of Management and Budget regarding each specific information collection during the approval period.

The PBGC estimates that the annual burden for this collection of information will total 2,500 hours for 9,500 respondents.

The PBGC is specifically seeking public comments to:

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Issued at Washington, DC, this 3rd day of March 2003.

Stuart A. Sirkin,

Director, Corporate Policy and Research Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.